How to Green Your Beauty Routine

Earth Day only comes once a year, but you use beauty products every single day. And when it comes to your makeup bag, doing our planet good is good for your skin too. The question is, how can we green our beauty routines? We got the scoop from Sarah Galusha, Director of Marketing at Hain Celestial Personal Care, the parent company of green brands Avalon Organics, Alba Botanica, JĀSӦN and Live Clean.

Why is natural beauty and skincare better for you? Your skin can absorb a lot of what it encounters every day, including chemicals found in beauty care products. Using products made with better-for-you ingredients reduces your body’s exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

Why is it important for the environment to use organic beauty products? Most of the products and the chemicals they are made with wash off our bodies and down the drain when we bathe. These chemicals can end up in our ground water. he same chemicals that can potentially harm our bodies are not good for the environment or wildlife. In addition, many eco products are made in part with organics ingredients, and some brands, including Avalon Organics, are certified to an organic standard which means they contain at least 70% organic content. Organic ingredients have been grown without pesticides that can be harmful to the environment. To be certified organic, the ingredients also require independent verification that the source plants are not grown intentionally from genetically modified seeds, or GMOs. Avalon Organics formulas are also biodegradable, vegan and certified cruelty-free, furthering our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment and animals.

How can we make our makeup bags greener? A complete beauty routine overhaul can be overwhelming for you and for your skin if you try to do it all at once. We recommend only trying to replace one or two products at a time. Sometimes it takes some trial and error to find a new product that meets your needs. So start with one product, like a moisturizer. Go to a store that has testers on the beauty aisle and spend a little time reading and testing the products. After you’ve found a product that you like and have used it successfully for a week or two, start working on replacing another product in your makeup bag. This gives your skin time to adapt to one change at a time and isn’t as overwhelming for you.

What are the first types of products that you should swap out for a green version? Products you leave on your skin have the potential for greater skin absorption than products that you wash off. For this reason, you should prioritize swapping out your facial creams, body lotions and deodorants.